Workplace Health and Safety Requirements 

Workplace safety is everyone’s responsibility. 

Your role and your team’s roles will define how you support a joint health and safety effort, which we’ve outlined below with select clippings from the Ontario Health and Safety Act (OHSA). 

Please note: this article does not replace the Ontario Health and Safety Act, nor does it act in any legal capacity, but can serve as a guide to help you better understand your responsibilities. Please refer to the Act for more information.

For more detailed information, refer to the Ontario Health and Safety Act Regulations for Industrial Establishments as it applies to dealerships. 

Employer

It is your responsibility to ensure that everyone follows the measures and procedures prescribed in the Act. Meaning, you as the employer, ensure that: 

• the equipment, materials and protective devices are provided, maintained in good condition, and are used as prescribed 
• the measures and procedures prescribed are carried out in the workplace
• a building, structure, or any part thereof, or any other part of a workplace, whether temporary or permanent, is capable of supporting any loads that may be applied to it
• take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker (it’s ambiguous and broad but acts as a catch-all for the Ministry) 

Additionally, you shall: 

• provide information, instruction and supervision to a worker to protect the health or safety of the worker
• acquaint a worker or a person in authority over a worker with any hazard in the work and in the handling, storage, use, disposal and transport of any article, device, equipment or a biological, chemical or physical agent
• prepare and review at least annually a written occupational health and safety policy and develop and maintain a program to implement that policy and place in a conspicuous location in the workplace
• in a medical emergency for the purpose of diagnosis or treatment, provide, upon request, information in the possession of the employer, including confidential business information, to a legally qualified medical practitioner and to such other persons as may be prescribed
• when appointing a supervisor, appoint a competent person
• if you employ more than twenty people, offer assistance and co-operation to a committee and a health and safety representative in the carrying out by the committee and the health and safety representative of any of their functions
• only employ in or about a workplace a person over such age as may be prescribed
• post, in the workplace, a copy of the Act and any explanatory material prepared by the Ministry, both in English and the majority language of the workplace, outlining the rights, responsibilities and duties of workers

In regards to workplace violence and harassment, you must: 

• prepare a policy with respect to workplace violence and workplace harassment and review the policies yearly 
• develop and maintain a program to implement the policies 

As for hazardous materials, you will: 

• ensure that all hazardous materials present in the workplace are identified, and obtain or prepare current safety data sheets for all hazardous materials present in the workplace in English and such other languages as may be prescribed 

In the event that an injury, occupational illness, or death occurs, follow these instructions for reporting workplace incidents and illnesses.

Supervisor 

Supervisors in your dealership will ensure that a worker: 

• works in the manner and with the protective devices, measures and procedures required by the Act and the regulations
• uses or wears the equipment, protective devices or clothing that the worker’s employer requires to be used or worn

Additionally, they shall:

• advise a worker of the existence of any potential or actual danger to the health or safety of the worker of which the supervisor is aware
• where so prescribed, provide a worker with written instructions as to the measures and procedures to be taken for the protection of the worker
• take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker

Worker 

Workers under your employment shall: 

• work in compliance with the provisions of the Act and the regulations
• use or wear the equipment, protective devices or clothing that the worker’s employer requires to be used or worn
• report to his or her employer or supervisor the absence of or defect in any equipment or protective device of which the worker is aware and which may endanger himself, herself or another worker
• report to his or her employer or supervisor any contravention of the Act or the regulations or the existence of any hazard of which he or she knows

No worker shall:

• remove or make ineffective any protective device required by the regulations or by his or her employer, without providing an adequate temporary protective device and when the need for removing or making ineffective the protective device has ceased, the protective device shall be replaced immediately
• use or operate any equipment, machine, device or thing or work in a manner that may endanger himself, herself or any other worker
• engage in any prank, contest, feat of strength, unnecessary running or rough and boisterous conduct

A worker may refuse to work or do particular work where he or she has reason to believe that:

• any equipment, machine, device or thing the worker is to use or operate is likely to endanger himself, herself or another worker
• the physical condition of the workplace or the part thereof in which he or she works or is to work is likely to endanger himself or herself
• workplace violence is likely to endanger himself or herself

*Should a worker refuse work, they must follow the correct steps as outlined in the Act

In the event that a worker refuses to work due to health and safety concerns, no employer or person acting on behalf of an employer shall,

• dismiss or threaten to dismiss a worker
• discipline or suspend or threaten to discipline or suspend a worker
• impose any penalty upon a worker
• intimidate or coerce a worker

Suppliers 

Every person who supplies any machine, device, tool or equipment under any rental, leasing or similar arrangement for use in or about a workplace shall ensure

• that the machine, device, tool or equipment is in good condition
• that the machine, device, tool or equipment complies with the Act and the regulations
• if it is the person’s responsibility under the rental, leasing or similar arrangement to do so, that the machine, device, tool or equipment is maintained in good condition

Ministry of Labour 

The Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development’s goal is for all workplaces to achieve self-compliance with OHSA and regulations through a well-functioning internal responsibility system.

They oversee inspectors who enforce the act. Their role includes: 

• inspection of workplaces
• issuing of orders where there is a contravention of OHSA or its regulations
• investigation of critical injuries, fatalities, work refusals and health and safety complaints
• recommendation of prosecution

The maximum penalties for a contravention of OHSA or its regulations are set out in OHSA section 66. A person who is convicted of an offence under the OHSA may be subject to:

• a fine of up to $500,000 for all other persons and/or up to 12 months imprisonment
• a fine of up to $1,500,000 for directors and officers of corporations and/or up to 12 months imprisonment
• a fine of up to $1,500,000 for a corporation

Information provided by OHSA

As you can see, health and safety is taken seriously (as it should be!). It’s your job to understand your roles and responsibilities and act on them so everyone makes it home safely at the end of the day. 

CEDA 

CEDA does not play a role on behalf of the OHSA in your company’s health and safety requirements. However, we have many resources that can help support your compliance. 

Firstly, we have in-depth knowledge of your responsibilities and can consult on your size of operation, required training, plan documentation and maintenance, and committee roles and responsibilities. 

Specifically, how can we help? 

Online Training 

In January 2024, we brought our monthly Safety Talk training online. When you subscribe to the program, you can access all of the health and safety video seminars and accompanying quizzes. 

You can assign which topics most apply to your team and their type of work so their learning is catered to their individual jobs. Tracking course progress is easy with downloadable reports that prove compliance. 

We create the seminars in-house, so they all directly relate to the farm and farmstead equipment industries. That means there’s no sifting through course catalogues and hoping they’ll meet your needs. 

Everything is designed for you! 

5 Plus Program 

If you’re an employer of five employees (including the owner), you’re required to have a documented occupational health and safety policy and program available to your staff at all times. 

It can be difficult to decide what goes in these as they are individual to each workplace.

To make it easier for you, we provide you with expert knowledge on how to write compliant health and safety policies and develop a functioning health and safety program specific to your dealership.

Consultation 

We’re well-versed in the OHSA and can help answer any questions you have about it. We recommend reaching out before there’s an incident, but we can also help if there ever is one.